Correction: Goldman Circulated Document On Short Selling And Naked Shorting

There was a miscommunication between us and Goldman. They did
acknowledge circulating a deck on short selling and naked
shorting. However, our reasons for thinking the whole deck is
hardly a smoking gun remain.

Late last night, we
heard from Goldman Sachs (GS) pr chief Lucas van Praag who denied
that the bank had been circulating a "fact sheet" (embedded
below) to polticians on naked short selling, as
Matt Taibbi claims.

But let's say you
don't believe them. (Taibbi claims to have heard about the
document from two sources, and we don't think he's making that
up.) It still doesn't matter for two reasons.

a) The document is clearly not about naked short
selling, but rather about short selling in general. So
saying the document is a disingenuous attack on naked shorting is
absurd.

b) It's really benign. Yes, companies lobby and
seek to pursue legislation that best suits their own agenda. But
only the most commited Goldman haters could look at that document
and feel the bile rising. It's 3 unmemorable pages, hardly a
smoking gun of some shadowy attempt to buy off Washington. If
anything, the surprise thing is how unremarkable it is for a
company that supposedly pulls so many strings in DC.